aak@CS-Mordred (Alejandro Kapauan) (03/02/84)
Does anyone out there know what can be done to prevent the 1541 drive from drifting out of alignment? I have the old drive which is lighter in color than the new one. For about a month after aligning it, it works perfectly. Then a month or so later, it begins to develop the familiar signs of head misalignment. Then I have to perform the alignment again. To align the head, I remove the chassis from the plastic case, turn it on its side, then slightly loosen the two stepper motor hold-down screws accessible through cutouts in the chassis. I hookup the drive to the computer, insert a known good disk (I don't have an alignment disk, so I use the 1541 demo disk), then run the program below to step the head from track to track. I then turn the stepper motor slightly (its mounting holes are oval, so it can turn a bit) until there are no signs of read errors (steady on drive light, no blinking or flickering) through the outermost to innermost tracks. I then tighten the screws. You might try this if you are desperate. My last alignment lasted longer than normal, since Christmas. 10 CLOSE15:CLOSE2:OPEN15,8,15 20 OPEN2,8,2,"#" 30 FORS=0TO10:FORT=1TO35 40 PRINT#15,"U1:";2;0;T;S 50 PRINT"TRACK"T" SECTOR "S 60 NEXTT:NEXTS 70 CLOSE2:CLOSE15 Does the new drive still have head alignment problems? Would Commodore be willing to sell just the drive mechanism? Please post responses to the net. Thanks in advance. -AQ Kapauan ....!pur-ee!purdue!aak (aak@purdue CSNET/ARPA)